Large Library of Full Audiobooks in Fiction, Historical New Releases

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Witness in Heaven

Subtitle: Appomattox Series #10

Author: Gilbert Morris

Narrator: Maynard Villers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-17-08

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

As the danger of being "Northerners" in the South grows, Charlene and Boone must decide whether it's worth the risk to stay and fulfill their mission. What they discover in the process may end or change the course of their lives forever.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Stars in their Courses

Subtitle: Appomattox Series #8

Author: Gilbert Morris

Narrator: Maynard Villers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-16-08

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Seeking an escape from the monotony and drudgery of days-on-end army life, Frank Rocklin, an actor, approaches his commanding general with a bold plan to spy on Vicksburg and assess its military condition. Vicksburg is the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi. This mission lays the groundwork for a proposition from Allan Pinkerton, the head of the Federal Secret Service. Pinkerton wants to send Frank and an acting troupe to the South, where Frank can pick up valuable information to help the Northern war effort. While the Confederate Secret Service may pose a threat to Frank, the real danger could come from the women closest to him.

©1995 Gilbert Morris; (P)2006 Books in Motion

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Long Road Turning

Subtitle: Women of Paragon Springs, Book 1

Author: Irene Bennett Brown

Narrator: Stephanie Brush

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-19-08

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

When the group arrives in Dodge City, they learn that the uncle has died, leaving only a small tract of land to the nephew. Cassiday soon trades for another parcel and they build themselves a home.

Harassed by a cattle rancher who wants her land, and in constant fear of the bounty hunter her husband has hired to find her, Cassiday struggles to maintain her farm and find a way to free herself from her past.

Critic Reviews:

"[A] vibrant and engaging tale of brave settlers." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Perserverance

This book provides a little insight into social norms, marriage and land rights' struggles, of this period. It is mostly about the perseverance of women on a rugged farm in Kansas against weather and cattlemen. Great descriptive writing with some action, just not capturing enough for my taste.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Queen of the Mersey

Author: Maureen Lee

Narrator: Maggie Ollerenshaw

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-12-08

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 36 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Queenie is only 14 and has been deserted by her mother. Set in Liverpool and Wales at the outbreak of World War II, this story explores themes of female friendship and betrayal from the perspective of a group of women of widely different ages.

©2003 Maureen Lee; (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Members Reviews:

Entertaining

This story revolves around three friends, Laura, Vera, and Queenie, their family and their lives from WWII Liverpool through the 70's. I enjoyed the story a great deal, especially the first 3/4's. It was interesting to read about the children's stay in Wales while they were being re-located and how the war affected them.

I think if I were the author, I'd have worked a bit on the male characters. None of them were very attractive or that interesting. Also, I found myself losing interest when the characters were reliving the 60's. I much preferred the war era, the 60-70's just bore me.

Overall, this book inspired me to buy 2 more by the author. Hopefully I like them as well.

entertaining stories of the whole family

Delightful characters make you feel part of this convoluted family. Each family member drawing you in to fall in love with all their little idiosyncrasies. Loved this book. Narration was great.

worst scouse accent ever

could not listen to this as the narrator does the worst Liverpudlian accent I have ever heard. Shame it's meant to be a good book

Amazing 5*****

Amazing story , felt gutted when the book came to the end !

Would of loved too see what happens to Queenie some more!

Couldt stop listening to the story on my audiobook at night!

Would recommend this book too anyone who loves too read and falls into the book as it where... if that makes sense!

Didt want queenie and her friends too end!

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Engleby

Author: Sebastian Faulks

Narrator: Michael Maloney

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-06-08

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 19 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Mike Engleby says things that others dare not even think. When the novel opens in the 1970s, he is a university student, having survived a "traditional" school. A man devoid of scruple or self-pity, Engleby provides a disarmingly frank account of English education. Yet beneath the disturbing surface of his observations lies an unfolding mystery of gripping power. One of his contemporaries unaccountably disappears, and as we follow Engleby's career, which brings us up to the present day, we are led to ask: is Engleby capable of telling the whole truth?

©2007 Sebastian Faulks; (P)2007 W F Howes Ltd

Members Reviews:

Extraordinary

This is without any doubt the best work of fiction I have ever listened to. The book is fabulous, literate and pleasing in every possible way. The narrator does a first class job and clearly understands and enjoys playing Engleby. Memories of this book will stay with me for a very long time.

Really depressing

I love Sebastian Faulks' novels and I have both read other novels of his and listened to other audiobooks written by him which I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved his novels 'Charlotte Gray' and 'Birdsong', and I loved the audiobook of 'A Week in December'. I also quite enjoyed the audiobooks of 'Girl in the Lion D'Or' and 'Human Traces'. But the character in 'Engelby' was so dark and disturbed that I couldn't persist with this audiobook. The narration was probably fine, although I found the lisping cockney accent a bit annoying after a while, but the character of Engleby himself was so mentally unstable and isolated and weird (and he is the sole narrator in this book, so especially as an audiobook you feel yourself being drawn into his mindset which is a bit unsettling) that I couldn't finish this book. I wouldn't recommend it.

"Engleby (unabridged)"

An engaging & thought-provoking book, giving an in-depth insight into a disturbed mind. The story carries you along in an absorbing journey.

How to care about a mass murderer

Little by little Engleby reveals himself to be a killer. He also shows us quite bluntly and with no grabbing at the sympathy votes, what has set him on his path and what has kept him there. This rather black tale is told with such wit and self deprecation by Engleby that I could forgive him a great deal. Many thought provoking hypotheses are stumbled around to add stock to the stew of ideas, circumstances and facets of humanity. Gag... the previous sounds very 'uni debate soc' ... sorry. Start again .... I found it to be a rich thick story with a protagonist so totally self involved and honest that I was forced to like and care about an ugly stunted graceless minor crim and murderer. The writing style was concise, well crafted and fluid. It was a joy to find an author who didn't 'buy a car for his auntie with four seats' so to speak. This author obviously went through the ed. system when writing a clear sentence was a basic requirement. Thank you Mr Faulks !

Dark and a little disturbing!

Engleby is one of the most unique books that I have come across. At first I assumed it was about the life of a Oxbridge university student that has made his way from a lower class background.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Reavers

Author: George MacDonald Fraser

Narrator: Bill Wallis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-10-07

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Oh, yes, gossips, it's all happening in The Reavers, a moral tale obviously conceived in some kind of fit by Flashman author George MacDonald Fraser...well, he's getting on, and was bound to crack eventually. He admits (nay, insists) that it's a crazy story for listeners who love fun for its own sake.

Members Reviews:

OK, but certainly not 5*

I downloaded The Reavers on the basis of its two, existing 5 star reviews and the fact that I've loved the Flashman books in the past. How disappointing. I've only listened to an hour of the eight so far, and I'm not sure whether I'll continue. So far it's taken an awfully long time for the plot to start developing, but it is well read, and the voice characterisations are very good. It's not great on historical detail and there are some curiously modern pop culture references, but some of the humour is quite engaging.

All in all, not a five star audio book by any stretch of the imagination, but bits are quite fun.

Made me laugh out loud

Fabulous characters with tongue firmly wedged in cheek. If you want historical niceties this isn't for you but it is very funny.

GMF Enjoying himself

Really good fun and the narrator Bill Willis sticks to the accents of the book, with hysterical results. It can be a bit difficult to hear when you first get stared but the ear soon tunes in.

Wonderful!

What a surprise. I downloaded this because it was cheap and was historical but it ended up being one of my favourites! Bill Wallis is brilliant, and if you love language, you will love this.

Fans of GMF - do not listen to this book!

I am afraid to say that this is an awful book. I am a great fan of GMF, especially his Flashman novels, and assumed this would be up to his usual fantastic standards. Unfortunately, despite the introductions claims that this book is merely a humourous poke at how seriously life is taken nowadays, there are just a spattering of genuinely funny moments in an otherwise slapstick mess.

The action is all over the place and the insistence of the author to write in the regional accent of the character clearly made reading it beyond the talents of the narrator. The narrator faithfully reads the text exactly as it is written, apostrophes and all, rather than naturally adopting the accent as it is intended - this renders some of the passages absolutely unintelligable. Anachronistic references to technology and pop culture only detract from the story and are just not funny.

This is the late, great authors last offering, and the positive reviews the book received are, I believe, testament to the warm affection that people held for the author rather than any actual literary merit. Sorry.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Far Reaches

Author: Homer Hickam

Narrator: Mark Deakins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-25-07

Publisher: Books on Tape

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 37 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

As blood colors the waters around Tarawa, Josh flounders ashore through a floating graveyard of dead men and joins the survivors, determined to somehow wrest victory from disaster. Critically wounded, Josh expects to die. Instead, Sister Mary Kathleen, a young Irish nun, nurses him back to health, and then shanghais Josh, sidekick Bosun Ready O'Neal, and three American marines to a group of beautiful tropical islands invaded by a brutal Japanese warlord. Josh and his little band must decide whether to help the Sister fight the battle she demands, return to Tarawa and the "real" war, or settle down in the romantic splendor of the South Seas.

Hickam expertly weaves the adventures of these hot-blooded characters tighter and tighter until the Sister's secrets and sins are finally revealed during a horrific battle in the lair of the warlord. With an incredible eye for historical detail and the talent of a master storyteller, Homer Hickam delivers another tour de force.

Critic Reviews:

"Hickam keeps the stakes high and the tension taut in this fast-moving historical." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

A great follow on to the series

A very entertaining and historically base series of great stories that also show the gaps between cultures in the midst of WW II.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: 7

Subtitle: The Mickey Mantle Novel

Author: Peter Golenbock

Narrator: Alan Smithee

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-30-07

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 22 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Best-selling sportswriter Peter Golenbock knew Mickey Mantle, many of Mantle's friends, family members, and teammates. While Mickey was a good person at heart, he had a dark side that went far beyond his well-known alcoholism and infidelities.

In this fictional portrait, Mickey, now in heaven, realizes that he's carrying a huge weight on his shoulders, as he did throughout his life. He needs to unburden himself of all the horrible things he did and understand for himself why he did them. He wants to make amends to the people he hurt, especially those dear to him; the fans he ignored and alienated; and the public who made him into a hero. Mickey never felt he deserved the adulation, could never live up to it, and tried his damnedest to prove it to everyone. The fact that he was human made the public love him that much more. This is revealed as a man who lived in fear: fear of failure, of success, of life beyond baseball, and of commitment. His was a life filled with sex, yet devoid of deeper satisfactions.

From the alcohol-fueled good times and bad, to the emptiness when the party was finally over, 7 has it all.

Critic Reviews:

"A comic, wild, sad and salacious reimagining of the late Yankee's life." (The New York Times)

Members Reviews:

Ugh...

A collection of long drawn out stories about baseball players in the fifties and sixties doing the groupies who automatically disrobe when they see "The Mick" or his buddies. A small bit of biographical material that was included as an afterthought rarely moved much below the surface. I purchased this selection early in the days of my having an audible membership and wasn't alert or cognizant enough to recognize that this wasn't a biographical look at the life of the Yankee legend. I'm not clear on the target audience for this piece of work but it isn't me.

A great behind the scenes look into an icon!

Would you consider the audio edition of 7 to be better than the print version?

I'm truly not sure which was better

What was one of the most memorable moments of 7?

The final family meeting before he died

What does Alan Smithee bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

The setting of the scenes

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both

Rude, crude,unattractive

Worse than terrible. The first book I have erased from my library. By the way, I love baseball.

7 is a 10

A person who loves baseball will love this-I did

Don't waste your money like I did

I kept waiting for the book to get past the level of "crass", but after 3 chapters it never did so I gave up on it. A disappointing waste of time as well as money.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Last Trail

Author: Zane Grey

Narrator: Robert Morris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-16-07

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

But one pioneer hoped to end Zane's career as a tireless protector. Spirited and beguiling Betty Sheppard begged him to give up his lonely border-man existence. Duty commanded, however, that he resist all charms except those of the forest trails. Like Wetzel, his loyal companion, Zane could have only one sweetheart: the North Star.

Critic Reviews:

"Great historical fiction." (School Library Journal)

Members Reviews:

Classic Tale of the Borderland Era

Colonel Eb Zane and his extended family are settlers of the Frontier around Fort Henry, a wilderness outpost along the Ohio River in America's pre-Revolution era. Jonathan Zane, Eb's younger brother, is one of the last of the Bordermen, defenders of the Frontier against lawless white and native elements.

While very well written, I gave this novel only four stars because of Grey's one-dimensional treatment of the Indians portrayed in the story. This isn't a complaint that the portrayal isn't politically correct, no novel from 1909 would exhibit that. It's just that ALL non-English dialog consists of one word - "ugh".

Friendship and victory at trails end.

Beauty and the beastly characteristics of brutal men come together in this story of a beautiful woman pursued by many men with lust to capture her against her will. She's fortunate to have protectors who will go to any length to rescue her. The story depicts the rescue attempts and the cunning and savagery of these encounters. Self sacrificial love it's a part of the story to rescue this beautiful moment. Suspense is found in the tale to the very end. Enjoyed the story and I do recommend it to others.

Wonderful

As usual, great read from Zane Grey, great story combining all the usual elements found in the genre. Will recommend.

The Last Trail

Interesting concept on how the west was tamed. Didn't care for the attitude of the Indians. They were taken advantage of at that time.

Very good book

interesting early frontier story for a writer who is known for his western stories. Take the time and read this

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Brothers

Author: Da Chen

Narrator: various

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-20-06

Publisher: Books on Tape

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 30 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Growing up, each remained ignorant of the other's existence. In Beijing, Tan enjoyed the best schools, the finest clothes, and the prettiest girls. Shento was raised on the mountainside by an old healer and his wife until their deaths landed him in an orphanage, where he was always hungry, alone, and frightened. Though on divergent roads, each brother is driven by a passionate desire; one to glorify his father, the other to seek revenge against him.

Separated by distance and opportunity, Tan and Shento follow the paths before them, unknowingly falling in love with the same woman and moving toward the explosive moment when their fates will finally merge.

Brothers, by bestselling memoirist Da Chen, is a sprawling, dynamic family saga, complete with assassinations, love affairs, narrowly missed opportunities, and the ineluctable fulfillment of destiny.

Critic Reviews:

"Chen's inventive and sprawling family saga eloquently recreates a time of enormous upheaval." (Publishers Weekly) "Chen deftly blends pathos and humor in this breathtaking evocation of an era of momentous political, social, and economic change." (Booklist) "This story of revenge, adventure, and an explosive love triangle satisfies a taste for historical fiction as well as for a family saga." (School Library Journal) "From Shaolin to the sugarloaf mountains of Gwangdong to Tiananmen Square and the skyscrapers of New York: an epic novel that neatly distills modern Chinese history. Da Chen's elegantly written novel ends on the promise of redemption." (Kirkus Reviews)

Members Reviews:

Disappointing

Extremely disappointing. Cardboard characters, awkward dialogue and amateur, awkward readers. The characters are unbelievable - no depth - black & white. Ridiculous, fortuitous events - $60 million magically appears in a bank account - grandfather put $20 million there years ago and the investment has done well - poverty problem solved! The good guys can't do enough good and the bad guys are bad through & through. A struggle to get through - no new information or insights on China - certainly not worth 2 book credits.

Brothers - worth the proce

I really enjoyed the book. The story line was excellent, the characters were well defined. The historical and cultural aspects of the book were I thought valid and closely followed reality.

I found myself wanting more, so the ending was for me a bit abrupt. Tes, all the loose ends had been tied together; but I wanted to know what happened next. I hope there is a another book???

The worst book I ever listened to

Pat, Banal, with cartoon characters. A big waste of time. Don't know why anyone liked it. There are so many other good books about the development of modern China. Don't waste your time.

Not Good

The characters are flat and the event are predictable. The readers are ok but they can't do much with the bad material.

Incredible read

Never before have I had a book which I could say "it was difficult to put down", until now. This is a story which moved me from the edge of my seat at times to the verge of tears on more than one occasion. Never before has a book kept me wide awake through to the early hours of the morning. An incredible read.